Epizeuxis

In rhetoric, an epizeuxis is the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, typically within the same sentence, for vehemence or emphasis.[1] A closely related rhetorical device is diacope, which involves word repetition that is broken up by a single intervening word, or a small number of intervening words.[2]

As a rhetorical device, epizeuxis is utilized to create an emotional appeal, thereby inspiring and motivating the audience. However, epizeuxis can also be used for comic effect.[3]

Examples

• "Dilly, Dilly!" — Bud Light King
• "Pretty, pretty good!" — Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm[4]
• "Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."—Winston Churchill
• “Isn’t it extraordinary that the Prime Minister of our country can’t even urge his Party to support his own position?! Yeah. Weak! Weak! Weak!”—Tony Blair
• "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time..."—Macbeth
• "O horror, horror, horror."—Macbeth
• "Words, words, words."—Hamlet
• "Break, Break, Break"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson
• "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God."—Isaiah 40.1
• "Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain."—Guy Gavriel Kay
• "Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers. Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers!"—Steve Ballmer
• "Education, education, education."—Tony Blair
• "Never, never, never, never, never!"—King Lear
• "Location, location, location."—common phrase tied to real estate
• "The horror, the horror"—Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
• "We are never, ever, ever, ever getting back together"—Taylor Swift, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
• "The fools, the fools, the fools!"—Patrick Pearse[5]
• "No, no, no!"—Margaret Thatcher
• "Yes, yes, yes!"—Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
• "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!"—Henry David Thoreau, Walden
• "Scotch, scotch, scotch, scotchy, scotchy scotch."—Ron Burgundy, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
• "But you never know now do you now do you now do you."— David Foster Wallace, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
• Tora! Tora! Tora!—A 1970 movie of the same name focused around the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
• "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"—The Brady Bunch
• "I'll have your Spam. I love it. I'm having Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam and Spam."—Monty Python's Flying Circus

Alone, alone, all all alone,

Alone on a wide, wide sea".

—Samuel Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

See also

• Anaphora
• Diacope

References

1. Arthur Quinn, Figures of Speech, Gibbs M. Smith, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, 1982.
2. "Epizeuxis". Literary Devices.
3. Gerard Hauser, Introduction to Rhetorical Theory, Waveland Press, Illinois, 2002.
4. Goldman, Eric (4 September 2011). "Curb Your Enthusiasm: "Mister Softee" Review".
5. "Oration of Patrick Pearse". www.easter1916.net.

External links

• Text and Audio illustrations of epizeuxis